1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an emergency off switching device for disconnecting an electrically operated machine from a circuit in accordance with the precharacterising clause of patent claim 1.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A switching device of this kind is disclosed in EP 103 14 539 B4. A switching device of this kind principally serves to shut off the electrically operated machine immediately in an emergency situation. Normally, the contact switch is decoupled from the electrical circuit by the actuator cap being pressed down, with the effect that the energy supply for the machine is interrupted. These switching devices are used in a large number of electrical devices, machines, control devices and the like.
It has proven to be a disadvantage with emergency off switching devices of this kind that it is often difficult to find out which of the many switching devices has actually been actuated. This is because, for example, if there is a large number of electrical devices installed in a machinery hall as part of one manufacturing process, and all of these have to be interrupted then the actuated switching device cannot be established directly, with the effect that there is a time delay before the equipment circuit can be put back into operation. This is because actuating the switching device switches off the entire interconnected and synchronised system. The monitoring and operating personnel therefore have got to check all of the switching devices installed in the system whenever one of the emergency off switching devices is actuated. Only when the actuated emergency off switching device has been deactivated, i.e. once it has been possible to terminate the emergency situation, should the machine or the system immediately return to operation in order to avoid any unnecessary downtimes.